I loved the BP Ultimate Beginner's Guide, but I'm also wondering, have any of you created similar documents to help you remember valuable information?

Identify your investment goals and strategies and let that be your guide as you research different markets.

Start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free).

There are still deals and we guide investors to look at the future of investing in Reno Tahoe and the strong appreciation. 

My suggestion: look up the median price for a market and use that as a guide. 

They can guide you on the potential for accessing equity through home equity loan or a HELOC.

As you said that you purchased a new home, that also guides your search.

The bottom line is you shouldn't use any of these strategies without proper education or hiring a competent person to guide you AND you should have the ability to reposition the debt IF the sellers lender calls the loan due.

Agreed with @Dan Sheeks, also Bigger Pocket's book Every Real Estate Agent's Guide to Building a Profitable Business is extremely helpful, and I recommend it to anyone starting out.

That's exactly what we did,  Follow state guide lines that we are not renewing.